Heard around the West

CALIFORNIA

If Arnold
Schwarzenegger has his way, gas-powered cars will be
terminated in 10-15 years. The media-savvy governor recently drove
a hydrogen-powered Toyota to a press conference in Davis, where he
championed hydrogen as a replacement for gasoline, reports the
San Francisco Chronicle. Schwarzenegger, who has
played an unstoppable robot from the future, predicted the building
of as many as 200 hydrogen-fueling stations — costing a
half-million dollars each — along California freeways.
Hydrogen is used to power a fuel cell that makes electricity. But
there’s a catch: It takes energy to produce hydrogen.
Schwarzenegger is putting some money where his mouth is:
Sierra magazine says he’ll spend $35,000
to convert one of his five, gas-guzzling Hummers to run on
hydrogen. That’s unlikely, reports The Associated Press.
David Caldwell, a spokesman for the Hummer division of General
Motors Corp., says, "We would never do a Hummer on any energy
source that would not perform like a Hummer is supposed to
perform."

THE WEST

Political correctness can sometimes get out of
hand. The Tucson Weekly reports that a
perfect example occurred at The Los Angeles
Times, when a reviewer described a 19th century opera by
Richard Strauss as "pro-life." The reviewer meant that it
celebrated and affirmed life. An over-zealous editor followed the
newspaper stylebook’s recommendation, and changed "pro-life"
to "anti-abortion," giving the opera a whole new theme.

COLORADO

Dog walkers in
Telluride, a high-altitude resort town, have been advised
to get a leash and hang on tight. In April, coyotes attacked an
80-pound dog that wandered away from its owner and into a wetlands.
The dog emerged with "a three-to-four-inch gash on its side and
several puncture wounds," reports The Telluride
Watch.

COLORADO

Does height matter? Sen. Doug Lamborn, a
Republican from Colorado Springs, wants to change 14,148-foot-tall
Mount Democrat — named over a century ago — to
Republican Mountain, renaming the current Republican Mountain
— a mere 12,386-footer — Mount Democrat. "I think
it’s appropriate that the higher mountain be named for the
Republicans," he says. Senate Democratic leader Joan Fitz-Gerald
says she won’t ask the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to make
a switch: "We’re not going to give any ground," she told the
Rocky Mountain News.

NEW
MEXICO

Republican Sen. Pete Domenici was
shocked that salespeople didn’t realize that a
thief had been using his credit card to buy hundreds of dollars'
worth of clothes and groceries. "Geez," he complained to a business
group, "you thought everyone knew me." New Mexico’s senior
senator lost his identity after he lost his wallet, reports the
Albuquerque Journal.